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WILLIAM H. RAU 

PHILADELPHIA 

1890 



A 



DESCRIPTIVE READING 



ON 



LONDON 



ILLUSTRATED BY TWELVE LANTERN 




SLIDES 




BY EDMUND STIRLING 
1 




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WILLIAM H. RAU 

PHILADELPHIA 
1890 





Copyright, 1890, by William H. Ran. 



THE LIBRARY] 

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ILLUSTRATIONS. 



i. Westminster Abbey. 

2. Thames Embankment and Parliament Buildings. 

3. Interior of House of Lords. 

4. Trafalgar Square 

5. The Strand. 

6. Temple Bar. 

7. Obelisk, Thames Embankment. 

8. Bank of England. 

9. St. Paul's Cathedral from the Thames. 

10. London Bridge. 

11. The Tower. 

12. Albert Memorial. 



LONDON. 

The venerable city of London, the metropolis of 
all English speaking people, unquestionably stands 
unrivalled in the history of the world. Herschel 
spoke of it as the center of the terrestrial globe, 
which it really is in more senses than that in which 
he meant to imply ; and the German poet, Heine, 
called the city the greatest wonder which the world 
can show to the astonished spirit. When we con- 
sider that within a fifteen-mile radius of St. James' 
Palace there live upwards of 4,800,000 persons, a very 
faint idea is conveyed of what that fact means. It 
means among other things that London has within 
her narrow limits a population twice that of Paris, 
more people than in the whole of Scotland, more 
Roman Catholics than Rome itself, more Irishmen 
than Belfast, more Scotchmen than in Aberdeen, and 
more Jews than in all Palestine ; more people than in 
the whole State of Pennsylvania ; more than in all the 
New England States and the State of California put 
together. A number of people equal to the entire 
population of Brooklyn daily enter and leave the 
632 acres of the City of London proper, and ten years 
ago ground sold at the rate ot ten millions of dollars 
an acre. Of this great city, however, we can only 
look at one or two of its most striking features. 

1. Westminster Abbey. — This beautiful Gothic 
church — Westminster Abbey, earth's richest maus- 
oleum, stands on the site of an ancient temple to 

(211 



212 LONDON. 

Apollo. The first Christian Church dates from 610, 
and many English monarchs have since added to 
their renown by their additions to, and restorations 
of this venerated pile. Dean Stanley once said of 
Westminster that "It is not only Rheims Cathedral 
and St. Deny's both in one, but is also what the Pan- 
theon was intended to be to France, what the Val- 
halla is to Germany, what Santa Croce is to Italy." 
In its precincts are entombed the remains of some of 
the most illustrious, wisest and best men England 
has given to the world, and a study of its monuments 
and memorials would well repay the thoughtful stu- 
dent of history. Perhaps the best illustration of the 
English estimation of the honor of being buried 
there is given in Nelson's famous speech on the eve 
of one of his battles: "A peerage, or Westminster 
Abbey ! " The view before us presents the west 
front, the towers — said to be the loftiest of their kind 
in England — having been the fruit of Sir Christopher 
Wren's attempt at restoration. It is interesting to 
think that it was Henry III.'s extravagance in his 
efforts to rebuild the Abbey which called into exist- 
ence the House of Commons. The dimensions of 
the Abbey are: Length, 416 feet; length of trans- 
cript, 203 feet ; length of choir, 155 feet ; height, 101 
feet 8 inches, and height of towers, 225 feet. 

2. T li a 111 e s Embankment and Parliament 
Buildings. — Close to the Abbey is the " New Palace 
of Westminster " or the Parliament Buildings, which 
we see from the Thames or Victoria Embankment, 
and which were erected at a cost of eight millions of 
dollars on the site of the old palace, destroyed by fire 
in 1854. The buildings are of the Tudor style of 



LONDON. 213 

architecture, and fronting 940 feet on the river, con- 
tain eleven open quadrangle courts, 500 apartments, 
and 18 official residences, beside the royal state 
apartments, the Houses of Lords and Commons and 
the central Hall. The clock tower is 40 feet square 
and rises to a height of 320 feet, while behind it rises 
to a height of 346 feet the Victoria Tower. The Vic- 
toria Embankment comprises a strip of land reclaim- 
ed from the Thames, varying from 200 to 450 feet in 
width and amounting to about 30 acres. It consists 
of a solid granite wall eight feet thick, 40 feet high, 
and 7000 feet long, and provides a roadway, walks, 
&c, and gardens of great beauty. Beneath the Em- 
bankment runs the Underground Railway and there 
are also tunnels for the great sewer, and for water and 
gas pipes, and electric wires. This stupendous public 
work was completed in 1870, and cost about ten mil- 
lion dollars. 

3. Interior of the House of Lords. — Approach- 
ing the Palace we will enter through the Victoria 
Tower and presently will find ourselves in the House 
of Lords, a magnificent chamber, 97 feet long, 45 feet 
wide and 45 feet high. The apartment is extremely 
rich in gilding and color, wrought metal and carved 
work. Frescoes adorn the walls, the subjects illus- 
trated being the Baptism of Elizabeth ; Edward III. 
conferring the Order of the Garter on the Black 
Prince ; Henry, Prince of Wales, committed to prison 
for assaulting Judge Gascoigne ; and the Spirit of Re- 
ligion, Chivalry and Law, all by Royal Academicans. 
Here the Sovereign comes to open Parliament; on 
either side of the throne, but upon a less elevated 
dias, is a chair for the Prince of Wales, and the per- 



214 LONDON. 

sonage next in honor ; while in front of the throne is 
the Woolsack of the Lord Chancellor of England. 
The seats of the Peers are ranged on either side. On 
the cornice below the gallery which surrounds the 
House, are the arms of the Sovereigns and Chancel- 
lors since the time of Edward III. 

4. Trafalgar Square. — Turning next to the ex- 
terior aspect of the city, we find one of the chief 
places of interest to be Trafalgar Square, on the site 
of the old royal mews, named in honor of Nelson's 
last victory, which destroyed the French and Span- 
ish fleets and turned Napoleon's thoughts from his 
intended invasion of England. In the centre stands 
the Nelson column, erected by popular subscription, 
aided by the Government, in 1840-43. The column 
is of Portland stone, 145 feet high, and is flanked by 
four superb bronze lions designed by Sir Edwin 
Landseer. The capital is of bronze from cannon 
captured by the great Admiral. On the side of the 
column are statues of the two military heroes — Sir 
Charles Napier and Sir Henry Havelock. Nearer 
the foreground is the equestrian statue of George IV. 
On the Charing Cross side of the square is another 
of Charles I., on the spot where once stood Queen 
Eleanor's Cross, the place of execution of the regi- 
cides, and near the spot where Charles himself was be- 
headed. A statue of General ("Chinese") Gordon 
has also recently been placed in Trafalgar Square. 
To the right is the National Gallery, and near by are 
many of the most important of the public offices, 
club houses, &c, Parliament Street, Pall Mall and 
the Strand opening into the square on different sides. 



LONDON. 215 

5. The Strand. — This busy street, which runs 
parallel with the Thames from Trafalgar Square to 
Temple Bar, was once in fact as well as in name, the 
Strand, and here were clustered the great residences 
of the nobility. Somerset House, the Savoy Chapel 
Royal and other relics of those days remain, but the 
street is now given up to trade, and is one of the 
busiest of the many busy streets of the metropolis. 
Here are to be found also, several of the well-known 
London Theatres, including the Lyceum, the Adel- 
phi, the Gaiety, Opera Comique, and so forth. Near 
its upper end, standing in the centre of the thorough- 
fare is the Church of St. Mary le Strand, which was 
built in 1714-17. A peculiarity of this church con- 
sists in its being built in two orders, in the upper of 
which the lights are placed, the wall of the lower being 
solid to keep out noises from the street. 

6. Temple Bar. — Where the Strand joins Fleet 
street, and opposite the large tower of the New Law 
Court, stood Temple Bar, the last of the old city 
gates. The ancient structure was removed in 1878, 
because it was not only a serious obstruction to 
travel, but had become unsafe. The Bar has since 
been re-erected on the outskirts of the city, but upon 
the original site a memorial has been built. The 
spot is full of historic associations. When the Sov- 
ereign visited the city it was customary to keep the 
gates of Temple Bar closed till admission was form- 
ally demanded ; they were then thrown open, and the 
city sword surrendered by the Lord Mayor. Above 
the centre of the pediment were spikes upon which 
were displayed to the people the heads of persons exe- 
cuted for high treason. The statues are those of 



2l6 LONDON. 

Queen Elizabeth and James I., while on the other side 
are similar figures, in Roman costume, of Charles I. 
and Charles II. This view was taken looking west 
into the Strand, the building to the extreme left being 
St. Clement's Danes' Church, which was frequented 
by Dr. Johnson. It was so named because the 
Danes left in the kingdom after the Conquest, lived 
by compulsion between Ludgate and Westminster, 
and built a church there. 

7. Obelisk, Thames Embankment. — Although 
many of the churches and monuments of London 
trace their history back to the dim ages of tradition, 
here is one whose hoary age makes the others seem 
youthful by comparison. This obelisk and its mate, 
commonly called Cleopatra's needles, were erected by 
Thothmes III. at Heliopolis, about fifteen centuries 
before Christ, and were remoued to Alexandria by 
Augustus, A. D. 23. One of them was acquired for 
the British government in 1801, but it was not re- 
moved until 1877-8, when Mr. Erasmus Wilson of- 
fered to pay all expenses. The engineering difficul- 
ties were overcome by Mr. John Dixon, who placed 
the shaft, weighing over 186 tons, in a cylindrical 
barge and floated it to England. In August, 1877, 
the barge and the steamer which was towing it, be- 
came separated in a heavy gale, and after six lives 
had been lost in an attempt to recover it, the obelisk 
was abandoned. It was pikced up, however, by an- 
other vessel, to whom ,£2,000 salvage was paid. The 
obelisk stands on the Thames Embankment, at the 
foot of Salisbury street, where it was erected Septem- 
ber 12, 1878. The column is of granite and measures 
68 feet from tip to base, being eight feet wide at the 



LONDON. 217 

lower end. Beyond we see the Waterloo Bridge — 
the "English Bridge of Sighs," and Somerset House, 
now used for government offices. 

8. Bank of England. — The Bank of England, 
perhaps the most extensive and important financial 
institution in the world, stands on Thread-needle 
Street, nearly opposite the Mansion House — the 
Lord Mayor's official residence. It covers nearly 
three acres of ground and was founded by Paterson 
in 1 69 1. Its general style of architecture, chiefly by 
Sir John Soane, is Corinthian, being copied from the 
Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli. It need only be ex- 
plained that this famous bank has notes in circulation 
to the amount of £18,000,000, but every note is can- 
celled upon its being paid in. It is the fiscal agent 
of the Imperial Government, receives the taxes, pays 
the interest on the national debt and annually divides 
twenty-five millions in dividends to its 284,000 share- 
holders. Since the riots of 1780 a military force has 
been stationed nightly within the Bank, besides a 
force of clerks who watch and patrol the building. 
To the right, in the view before us, is the Royal Ex- 
change, a splendid building erected in 1845. 

9. St, Paul's Cathedral from the Thames. — St. 

Paul's Cathedral, besides being one of the finest build- 
ings of its class in all England, is beyond question 
the most prominent object in London, being at the 
end of Ludgate Hill. Wherever you go its great 
dome looms up over the house-tops and it has 1 often 1 
served as a landmark for the pedestrian who has 1 
wandered about the streets of the city — too much 
interested in the throng about him to note distances 



2l8 LONDON. 

or direction. From the river the Church is particu- 
larly impressive, the dome and its cross towering up 
to a height of over 400 feet. The present building is 
a monument to the genius of Sir Christopher Wren, 
taking the place of "Old St. Paul's," burned in the 
Great Fire of 1666. This great work was completed 
in 35 years, under one bishop, one architect and one 
master-mason. St. Paul's is spoken of as the Val- 
halla of England ; for while in general civil eminence 
has been commemorated at the Abbey the Cathedral 
has been made a Pantheon for the nation's heroes. 
Wellington and Nelson are buried there side by side, 
besides many other illustrious personages, including 
Wren himself. His epitaph contains the sentence, 
"Reader, if thou seekest his monument, look around." 

10. London Bridge. — We have now reached the 
famous London Bridge. Prior to 1750 the bridge at 
this point was the only one which spanned the 
Thames, and the old bridge was a famous structure 
— both in its history and as to its form. But its arches 
were narrow, impeding navigation and rendered pos- 
sible the freezing over of the river, and it had to give 
way to the march of improvement. The present 
splendid stone structure was opened in 1831 and so 
admirably has it answered the purposes for which it 
was intended that the people some years ago rejected 
a proposition to widen it, lest the additions should 
mar its beauty. It has been reckoned that over 30,000 
vehicles and 140,000 foot passengers cross London 
bridge every 24 hours. This view, which was taken 
at a time when the travel was rather light, shows the 
monument (just back of the steeple of St. Magnus' 
Church) which commemorates the Great Fire ; and 



LONDON. 219 

on the river's edge, is the great fish market whose 
name has come to be used as a synonym for profanity 
— Billingsgate. On the other side Fishmonger's Hall 
can be discerned. 

11. The Tower. — A visit to London would be 
most incomplete without a view of the Tower, a ven- 
erable structure which is the connecting link between 
the days of freedom and the remote ages of feudalism. 
Shakespeare but repeats the tradition which existed 
before his time when he says that Julius Caesar built 
a fortress here. The most ancient part which now 
remains, however, is the White Tower, or Keep, the 
large square, turreted structure in the centre, which 
was built in 1078 by the Norman Conqueror. Nearly 
every English soverign since has added to it in some 
way. Prior to the time of Queen Elizabeth it was 
used as the royal residence ; but it is as a state prison 
that the Tower is chiefly famous — or it had better be 
said, infamous. In the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, 
within its walls, are buried many of the victims of the 
jealousy and revenge of the English monarchs. 
Lord Macauley said of it that there was no sadder 
spot on earth than this little cemetery, the resting 
place of the bleeding relics of men who have been the 
captains of armies, the oracles of senators and the 
ornaments of courts. Now its chief use is as a 
museum and arsenal, and its mote is turned into a 
flower garden. 

12. Albert Memorial. — In Hyde Park, near the 
evtreme end of the famous drive known as Rotten 
Row, stands the Albert Memorial, which is said to be 
the most magnificent monument in the world. It 



220 LONDON. 

commemorates the civic virtues of the Prince Consort, 
and was erected at a cost of ^150,000 of which sum 
a large portion was given by the Queen and £50, 000 
by Parliament. The memorial was designed by Sir 
Gilbert Scott and consists of a Gothic cross and 
canopy, with a spire reaching to a height of 175 feet. 
Beneath the canopy is a colossal seated figure of the 
Prince, by Foley. Around the base are 200 life size 
figures and portraits of the great men of all ages who 
have been illustrious in the arts and sciences. The 
monument is approached by four flights of steps, 130 
feet wide, and at each angle are groups of figures 
representing respectively Europe, Asia, Africa and 
America ; while smaller groups above represent 
Agriculture, Manufactories, Commerce and Engi- 
neering. 



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